We're only a few days ahead the Insert Coin 2009 show which will take place in Northampton (UK). Insert Coin will be Europe's biggest amusement show open to players. Organizers expect no less than 7000 visitors over the two days exhibition (18 to 19 July). The show will be divided into 3 areas: "Tournaments", "Exhibition and stands" and "Entertainment". Tournaments will be held during the two days with competitions on classics but also new titles such as Street Fighter IV and Tekken 6 - Bloodline Rebellion. Guinness World Records will be present to officialize new records which will appear in the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition! Contestants will receive prizes. Major amusement scene actors will be present, visitors will able to buy collector items, spare parts, merchandising and especially hardware and software hardly found outside Japan. Entertainment area will allow visitors to enjoy lots of events related to video games. The most anticipated show is certainly the Cosplay competition. For those who have purchased VIP tickets, an "After Party" is scheduled during the first day evening with sixty special guests, refreshments, the awards ceremony of the day tournaments and a amusement based question & answer session. The atmosphere will be granted by a DJ session! Ticket prices is £10 for children, £15 for adults and £23 for both days. More details on the website.

Holidays are coming, it's time to plunge into H2Overdrive's frenzy. Raw Thrills's new title whose prototype was unveiled at ATEI is now available. The final version of the machine features a 42" hi-res LCD screen and is equipped with force-feedback steering and a powerful seat subwoofer. Player selects from 9 boats to navigate on 7 water courses including canyon rapids, jungle swamp and flooded city streets. These courses are full of secret passages, obstacles, jumps, boosts and super boosts to pick up to improve boat's performance. H2Overdrive is linkable up to 8 and each machine features an interface to save profile and accomplishments through a PIN code. This title is distributed by Namco Europe.

Good news for arcade fans revealed at E3! Konami has announced the worldwide release of an arcade version of its console hit: Metal Gear whose title is simply Metal Gear Arcade. It's Hideo Kojima, creator of the series, who introduced the new title at a press conference where pictures presenting the title were shown. This game will be a tactical online action game. The player will wear special goggles to experience the game in 3D! It's now good habit for Konami to adapt its console games to arcade, remember very successful Silent Hill and Castlevania games! You can watch the press conference on youtube.

French magazine Player Two is back! After two years of silence, an editorial team reformed to create the fourth number of this fanzine mainly targeted at the nostalgics of the 16-bit era. True to the original spirit, this new issue offers (not without a good sense of humor) many arcade, console and computer game reviews as well as special features like how to add a 50/60Hz switch to a Master System and the best way to play video games in the toilet as well as ads of that time thrown here and there. Regarding arcade games, the following titles are reviewed: Magical Drop III, Progear no Arashi, Rad Mobile, Street Fighter II, Garou - Mark of the Wolves, King of the Monsters 2 and Mutation Nation. A music compilation with featured games themes is available as a separate download. The magazine in PDF format is 75Mb in size while the accompanying MP3 tracks weight a good 65Mb, you can download both files at Player Two website.

Bandai Namco Games and Capcom jointly announced yesterday that a
collaboration deal regarding amusement business was signed by the two companies. The
goal of this partnership is maximize games sales, share resources and information and
work on common new projects. Their first joint product will be a Mario Party
themed redemption game. This is not the first time that Bandai Namco Games uses Nintendo's popular character already seen in both
Mario Kart Arcade GP. Capcom also works
with Nintendo since some games like
Tatsunoko VS Capcom are powered by a Wii based hardware. Scheduled for
Autumn 2009 in Japan, Mario Party will offer a wide range of mini games and will
accept up to 16 players.

Lately, redemption machines gained more space in the amusement industry. As for all new trends, the lack of experience and information in this field prevents operators to reach the best income this kind of machines can provide. To address this problem, KWP Limited (editor of the popular "Stinger Report") will start publishing tomorrow a newsletter named the "Redemption Report". This one will regularly offer precious information such as the latest news, charts of the best machines, but also many tips and advices to make the right choice and boost your income. The "Redemption Report" will not only cover tickets machines but also token (pushers) and skill games as well as prize vending machines. As a consultancy company, KWP Limited is well known for its clear vision of the market and the accuracy of both its analysis and advices. You can subscribe to the "Redemption Report" for free through the official website: www.theredemptionreport.com.

Today Namco launches it's newest street-racing game: Nirin. But this time, players ride bikes. There are 5 different ones (Naked, Super Sports, Big Scooter, American et Super Motard), each with its own characteristic: speed, acceleration, handling and turbo boost. Night races take place on five urban courses with different difficulty levels. Accelerating boosts can be built up by banking the bike left or right. There are several play modes: Single Race (challenging rival teams and beating the boss to win a free game), Time Attack and VS Battle (offers up to four players head-to-head). Nirin is powered by System ES1 and features a 42â€ hi-res deluxe LCD screen.

Bandai Namco's new shooting game Razing Storm is available in Europe! In this futuristic shooter made by developers of the Time Crisis series, you are a SCAR (Strategic Combat And Rescue) squad member fighting your way through South America to bring down a terrorist organization. The year is 2030 so you'll have to cope with giant war machines amongst usual enemies. This title associates efficiency and originality. Efficiency thanks to the featured pedal system which made the success of Time Crisis, guns with recoil effect, 60" monitor, 5.1 DTS sound system and originality with the totally destructible scenery, sequences with alternate gameplay and above all: introduction of artificial intelligence! It means that enemies will behave differently for each new game. So no more movements pattern memorizing possible! Weapons include but are not limited to machine gun, cluster and rocket-launcher. As you can see, all ingredients are there for mass destruction! This teaser video should convince you of this. The other strong point is that this game runs on Namco's new System 357. It offers impressive graphics which are much better than what is usually seen in arcade games these days. Very enjoyable and technically awesome, this is the best shooting game on the market today. Razing Storm is a sure bet that will stand the test of time!!! Contact your local Namco distributor to order this machine, you won't regret it!Manufacturer: Bandai Namco. Size: 164(w)x179(d)x233(h). Weight: 385Kg.

Banpresto just unveiled the next update to its latest title. The name is Mobile Suit Gundam - Senjo no Kizuna "Kitty no Densetsu Edition". This is a special edition of Mobile Suit Gundam - Senjo no Kizuna featuring guest appearance of Hello Kitty! Kunio Okawara (mecha designer of the many Gundam series) himself imagined the "mecha-kitty". Available this summer in Japan as an online update, this version will add a bonus stage set in the world of Hello Kitty and special weapons such as the flower cannon... Players will have to meet certain criterias in order to unlock this extra content. A small Hello Kitty face will appear on title screen of cabinets where it is available. Exclusive Mecha Hello Kitty action figures will hit the stores at the same time. This is an April fool!

We spoke about it in our ATEI 2009 report, Sega low-cost kits are now available. The two titles are Sega Bass Fishing Challenge and Sega Clay Challenge that can be bought in full kit suiting all cabinets or in update kit for Atomiswave games like Extreme Hunting 1 and 2, Ranger Mission and Sport Shooting USA. Sega Bass Fishing Challenge has an interesting option: it is possible to add a printer in order to distribute a ticket with the player result which can be personalized by the operator. The ticket can be exchanged against a price. Ideal to encourage competition between trackball fishermenâ€¦